Fun^Da^Mental

by Steve HueyIn 1991, Aki Qureshi (Propa-Gandhi) saw a need in his homeland of Great Britain for a music group devoted to publicizing the social injustice directed at members of its Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities, and the collective Fun-Da-Mental was born. Qureshi built a following by releasing singles on his own independent label, Nation Records, and integrating multimedia spectacles into the groups concerts. Dave Impi-D Watts joined the group in 1993, and together, the two formed the musical core of Fun-Da-Mental, writing most of the worldbeat-influenced music, integrating tapes of recorded speeches into the songs and taking their turns rapping. Their 1994 debut, Seize the Time, features eight lyricists and five rappers altogether; Erotic Terrorism followed in 1998.